After 15 years and £60,000 spent fighting the council, Gareth Woodham has gained planning permission to extract Blue Pennant sandstone from his estate in Neath, South Wales.

Gareth, who describes himself as an inventor with 18 successful innovations to his name, has set up a company, Natural Stone Neath, to produce the Pennant.

He says: "We have some interesting reports telling us we have the finest Blue Pennant not only in Wales but in the whole country. A glacia just happened to stop here for a million years or so and laid down the best beds."

He became aware of the extent of the reserves when a pipeline was laid through the Pennant beds down to the coast at Port Talbot. "I went along to have a look," says Gareth. "This sandstone bed I\'m operating is in two spots, one in what used to be holiday chalets and one in a new quarry half a mile away."

He says the beds are up to 1.5m thick, but that the stone is easy to remove from the face. It is processed through a guillotine made especially for the quarry in Cornwall. The stone can be used as paving, cladding, dressed stone and random walling.

Natural Stone Neath plan to extract 1,000 tonnes of the stone a year. Gareth says because it is high quality it will command a high price.